Ball-bearing caster.



No. 811,152. PATENTED JAN. so, 190e.

BALL BEARING GASTER.

APPLICATION mmm P21112, 1903.

MTNESS'ES: lpNEN-VOH:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

oLIvER C. KNIPE, OE NoRRIsrowN, PENNSYLVANIA, AssICNOR To THE PREssED srEEL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OE NEW JERSEY.

BALL-BEARING CASTER..

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 30, 1906.

Application filed February 12, 1903. Serial No. 143,147.

' Pennsylvania, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in Ball- Bearing Casters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to casters for furniture, as chairs, tables, or other structures which require shifting about and in which a smooth easy rolling motion is desired.

The object is to provide a ball-bearing as part of such aflXture which will admit of cheap and durable construction.

In carrying out the invention I provide a ball cup or casing permanently fixed to a socket or late, which admits of easy attachment to t Ie piece of furniture on which it is to be mounted and in which a roller and its stem or support maybe mounted. The rollerstem may be detachable by Ineans of a slipjoint, as when a socket to be let into a hole bored in the bottom of the furniture structure is provided, or it may be riveted to the plate which carries the ball-cup when a table type of caster is used. II provide also, by preference, as part of the ball-cup a perforated cone to engage the balls, and especiallywhen the socket ty e of caster is used, and into which the rol er-stem may be set, thus rendering the part most easily damaged ca able of ready renewal or repair. I The bal cup and cone which form with the caster socket or plate a unitary structure comprise a raceway or ball-cup permanently secured to the socket or plate and a loose hardened-steel cone bearing on the circle of balls, a soft- Inetal jacket being closed over the parts to act at once as a casing and a retainer for the balls and cone.

The novel features of the invention will be hereinafter more fully described and will be definitely indicated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate several ways of carrying out the invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a caster of the socket type. Fig. 2 is a part-sectional view. Fig. 3 is a face view of the ball-cup. Fig. 4 shows the method of assembling the ball-cup and its casin Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a castel' of t .e table or plate type,

and Fig. 6 is a part-sectional view of such a type as Fig. 5.

Referring first to the socket type of Figs. 1 to 4, 1 represents a cup for a circle of balls, which may be formed in one integral piece with the socket 2, as by casting, drawing, or spinning, or may be formed separately and lunited therewith by brazing, welding, or

otherwise. 3 represents a cone to bear on the balls and which is provided with a tapering hole to accommodate the stem 4 of a cast yoke in which the roller 5 is mounted. The cone forms a permanent part of the ball-bearing and. is not detachable therefrom. It is held loosely in place by an inturned edge or flange of a soft-metal jacket G, litting snugly over the outside of the ball-cup, as seen at 7', Fig. 4, Which may be closed over the upper side of the same by a press. The mode of assembling the parts is seen in Fig. 4, the edge 7 being closed down on the ball-cup after the balls and cone have been set in place.

The ball-bearing per se is notclaimed herel in, as it forms the subject-matter of a companion application, hereinafter referred to.

Thus It will be seen that the ball-bearing, cone, and attached socket may be handled as a single unit, which dispenses with the necessity of the purchaser assembling the parts. Moreover, a simple roller may be used, such as is in common use on most types of caster, facilitating renewal or repair in case of damage to the weakest part.

In Figs. 5 4and 6 my improvements are shown as applied to a caster of the table type, which is lagged fast by screws or nails to the legs of a chair or the like. The construction ditl'ers in providing a metal plate 8, brazed or riveted totheball-cup. This plate is provided with a countersunk hole at its center, as seen at 9, into which is loosely riveted the post or stem l() of the roller. The ball-cup l. is a casehardened steel cup, and a soft-metal jacket 6 is closed around it, acting at once as a retainer for the balls anda hardened-steel cone 3. The entire caster, inclusive of the support and ballbearing and roller, is thus in a single structure, which may be secured to furniture by screws driven through holes in the plate.

No claim is made herein for the combined ball-cup and cone, as this structure is made IOO the subject of my companion application, Serial No. 146,453,1iled March 6, 1903.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. As an article of manufacture, a ballbearing support fora caster comprising aballcup, a soft-metal jacket attached thereto, a series of balls in the cup a perforated cone engaging the same, the jacket being provided with an integral incurled flange to act as a cone-retainer7 and means adapted to permit mounting the caster-support on an article of furniture.

2. As an article of manufacture, a ballbearing support for a caster comprising a hollow socket to receive a roller-stem7 a ball-cup carried by the lower end of the socket, an inclosed cone and a series of balls mounted to turn freely in the cup, and a soft-metal jacket provided with an inturned integral flange to permanently secure the cone within the cup.

3. A ball-bearing caster comprising a tubular socket having a ball-cup at its lower end, a perforated cone and series of balls permanently in closed in the ball cup7 a soft metal jacket having an integral flange to retain the cone, and a roller having a stem set in the cone and projecting into the socket.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 6th day of January, 1903.

OLIVER C. KNIFE. Witnesses:

O. W. PAYRAN, PHILIP J. DOUGHERTY. 

